Council Debates Bill Aimed at Abusive Landlords
Not a shocker: A bill currently before the City Council that’ll give tenants increased protection against landlord harassment isn’t sitting well with landlord advocates, according to an article in today’s Sun. Critics of the bill—which would give tenants the ability to seek restraining orders against verbally and physically abusive landlords, and owners who’ve deliberately withheld…
Not a shocker: A bill currently before the City Council that’ll give tenants increased protection against landlord harassment isn’t sitting well with landlord advocates, according to an article in today’s Sun. Critics of the bill—which would give tenants the ability to seek restraining orders against verbally and physically abusive landlords, and owners who’ve deliberately withheld services—say it will lead to unnecessary litigation. “The proposed legislation is extraordinarily broad and, at the same time, extremely vague,” said the vice president of the Real Estate Board of New York, Marolyn Davenport. “This vague language will result in an avalanche of frivolous suits.” Some Councilmembers have introduced separate legislation that would also allow landlords to sue for tenant harassment, but the landlord harassment bill has broad Council support and the Bloomberg administration’s blessing, and it’s expected to pass. Who says New York’s not still a renter’s town?
Bills Favoring Tenants, Landlords Spark Debate Over Rights of Each [NY Sun]
Photo by Daily Gusto.
“It’s such a losing proposition to be a landlord of a larger building that anyone who buys a larger building will make it condo instead.”
That doesn’t make any sense. There is no doubt that if there’s a market for condo’s, then the building owner will sell them as such. If there isn’t, they rent them out until they are more marketable and convert from rental, to units for sale (condo/coop)…it’s the oldest story within this city. They don’t do it because they don’t like landlord/tenant laws. That’s there attorney’s problem.
I own a two family brownstone and rent the garden floorthrough. I had a tenant several years ago who simply quit paying rent after a couple of months and started filing harassment complaints against me for no reason whatsoever. She claimed she was withholding rent because there was no heat, but there’s only one heating system in the building: she would just turn off the radiator valves, wait till the apartment was freezing, and call the City. Inspectors didn’t even bother to check the valves. She had a record as a serial deadbeat tenant (which had been fraudulently concealed on her application), but that couldn’t be introduced in court because it wasn’t relevant to our particular dispute, and each prior litigation had been settled by the landlords just to get rid of her. Way to live free in NYC. She made life so miserable (screaming, threatening to break through the door to my triplex while I was at work and poison my dog, etc., etc.) I ended up paying her to get out (as had her prior landlords – she literally made it impossible to sleep at night, howling, blasting music, threatening to burn down the building, etc.). My neighbors couldn’t sleep either, she made so much noise. And she didn’t pay her utilities, and insisted that I pick up the tab as part of the settlement. Then she moved on to her next victim.
Who protects small landlords in such circumstances? Answer: nobody. You’re helpless. My solution was simple: I’ll never give another lease (which puts you under the jurisdiction of landlord tenant court), and will stop renting that apartment as soon as possible. It’s not worth the risk of being exposed to that kind of abuse in my own home again. When an unscrupulous tenant in a two family house with a single owner occupant knows how to play this game and has no problems doing so, this kind of behavior, permitted by a biased landlord tenant court system, amounts to a form of unrecognized domestic violence.
I own a two family brownstone and rent the garden floorthrough. I had a tenant several years ago who simply quit paying rent after a couple of months and started filing harassment complaints against me for no reason whatsoever. She claimed she was withholding rent because there was no heat, but there’s only one heating system in the building: she would just turn off the radiator valves, wait till the apartment was freezing, and call the City. Inspectors didn’t even bother to check the valves. She had a record as a serial deadbeat tenant (which had been fraudulently concealed on her application), but that couldn’t be introduced in court because it wasn’t relevant to our particular dispute, and each prior litigation had been settled by the landlords just to get rid of her. Way to live free in NYC. She made life so miserable (screaming, threatening to break through the door to my triplex while I was at work and poison my dog, etc., etc.) I ended up paying her to get out (as had her prior landlords – she literally made it impossible to sleep at night, howling, blasting music, threatening to burn down the building, etc.). My neighbors couldn’t sleep either, she made so much noise. And she didn’t pay her utilities, and insisted that I pick up the tab as part of the settlement. Then she moved on to her next victim.
Who protects small landlords in such circumstances? Answer: nobody. You’re helpless. My solution was simple: I’ll never give another lease (which puts you under the jurisdiction of landlord tenant court), and will stop renting that apartment as soon as possible. It’s not worth the risk of being exposed to that kind of abuse in my own home again. When an unscrupulous tenant in a two family house with a single owner occupant knows how to play this game and has no problems doing so, this kind of behavior, permitted by a biased landlord tenant court system, amounts to a form of unrecognized domestic violence.
“What I’m getting at here is that tenants have it harder than landlords in most cases, and that the benefit of the doubt should be given to the tenant, and not the landlord.”
Are you nuts? You’re basing your view on ONE bad landlord? I’ve ben both tenant AND landlord, and Montrose Morris has it right – there are bad parties on BOTH sides. The existing laws are sufficient to protect the interests of both parties, and passing another law will NOT stop bad landlords from abusing tenants OR decietful tenants who are determined to make life hell for the landlord.
Why does this bill make it “even less appealing for property owners to make a building rentals instead of condos,” 4:46? Because it gives tenants some recourse if the only way to get the heat turned on is to take the landlord to court every winter? Are you presuming that there are building buyers out there who make the decision to buy based on an ability to harass tenants?
But 4:05, the reasons for the criticism were pretty clearly stated over and over – that the laws to protect tenants DO exist already. You need to read the posts more thoroughly. Also, most landlords here are people in houses with one little rental unit, who are financially impacted in a huge way if they have to pay for an attorney to go to court to defend them. This site is not a place slumlords come to hang out and chat with other property owners. Like what, about replacing doors and windows per historical landmarking? Do you even know what website you’re on, here?
It’s such a losing proposition to be a landlord of a larger building that anyone who buys a larger building will make it condo instead. Which is why affordable housing is disappearing. And yet, try and follow the logic, people who want more affordable housing are trying to make it even less appealing for property owners to make a building rentals instead of condos. That really makes sense.
It strikes me as if the people posting here are distinctly of the landlordly persuasion. That’s the only reason I can see for lambasting what appears to be a straightforward bill protecting the rights of tenants who, for a number of socioeconomic reasons, might need such defense moreso than the owners.
Don’t get me wrong – as a long-time renter, I have only had one bad landlord, compared with five excellent, fair, honest landlords.
But what a bad landlord!
When my oven broke, for example, it took over two months to get a replacement. Two months with no functional oven. The only reason I got the oven after those two months was that I withheld rent – and then my slumlord tried to charge me a “late fee” on the rent! When I explained my refusal to do so, he cursed me out, implied that I was a homosexual, and informed me that my lease would not be renewed (!). In another instance, some of the old plaster wall in the living room collapsed – and after complaining for weeks, I was finally forced to suck it up, buy some drywall and spackle and paint, and fix it myself so I could live in the space again. I sent him the receipt for the materials (didn’t even charge time!) and a check for that month’s rent less that cost, and he sent back the receipt with a note that he didn’t authorize the work and demanded payment.
This was a middle-aged man living in a very large house in an upscale neighborhood in New Jersey. He owned several properties as well as a business, whereas I was working 50-hour weeks to afford the cost of living and quickly pay off student loans. I didn’t have the time to deal with his nonsense, and while for the most part I liked the apartment, I eventually moved because this guy was such a pain.
What I’m getting at here is that tenants have it harder than landlords in most cases, and that the benefit of the doubt should be given to the tenant, and not the landlord.
The “two false claims” clause in this bill is very fair and prevents abuse; I see no reason why anyone who’s ever rented would not be in full agreement.
Having to have an attorney on retainer is reason enough for me to never want to be a landlord. We like our small one-family house situation just fine.
I agree this is nothing but political pandering – there ARE laws on the books to protect people against bully landlords. If you are going to get angry at anybody, get angry at the city for not enforcing the laws we already have. In the same way they don’t enforce the noise ordinance or DOB rules, or any of the other things politicians run for office claiming to have contributed to improve our neighborhoods and quality of life.
Every single city councilperson and representative puts “affordable housing” on their platform, then proceeds to do nothing. But low-income people keep on voting for them anyway. Low-income voters just want to hear the rant against landlords and agaist gentrification. That’s sufficient for them. No need for politicians to actually deliver anything. Except stupid, useless, unneeded legislation like this bill. This bill is so typical of city councilpeople in certain neighborhoods.
nyc should be like other towns where renting and landlording works cause they don’t have too many asinine rules as we have here. the more lawyers are involved the more ridiculous it gets.
the lawyers help write all the laws. remember alot of law makers were former lawyers. the sooner the people realize how out of whack nyc laws are vs other places the sooner it will be a sane place for both renters and landlords.
landlords needed to be big in nyc cause you need deep pockets with all the crazy laws. its a catch 22, you can’t be a good small time landlord cause of the jerks who doesn’t pay.